


Birthday Girl

by Sue Corkill (mscorkill)



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-26
Updated: 2012-05-26
Packaged: 2017-11-06 01:20:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/413144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mscorkill/pseuds/Sue%20Corkill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Birthday's are celebrated, even in ancient Egypt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birthday Girl

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Denise; originally posted in 2006.

BIRTHDAY GIRL

“It’s her birthday, you know.”

“Who’s?”

“Sam’s.” Daniel jerked his head. 

Jack followed the movement, looking to where Sam sat at the end of the communal dining table, carefully eating the roast lamb and rice with her fingers. “How do you know? You have a calendar here?” Not that he didn’t believe Daniel or anything, but they were in ancient Egypt and Daniel had been stuck back in time for a lot longer than they had.  
Jack caught the slight eye roll and ignored it, something he’d gotten quite good at over the past few days. 

“As a matter of fact, I do have a calendar,” Daniel added with a touch of almost comical disdain. “And it’s her birthday.” 

Jack’s eyes narrowed as he studied Sam. The setting sun cast a golden glow, softening the rather drab and harsh surroundings of the tent city. In the gentle twilight, the encampment took on a surreal quality, much like the general feeling he’d had ever since they’d been marooned back in time. So much had happened in such a short time, it had left his head spinning. But there was one thing that had seemed so right. She smiled, her teeth flashing white in the lingering sunlight, the blonde tendrils of her bangs sneaking out from under the burnoose she wore. 

His gut tightened in an all too familiar fashion—at least since he’d been around her. She was spunky and way too beautiful, in a weird, geeky sort of way. And instead of diminishing, the initial visceral attraction he’d felt for her had continued to grow. It could have been propinquity or the fact that they were the only two left from the initial strike team; but he knew it was more than that. He knew by the way his stomach dropped out from under him when she smiled at him, the way he became tongue tied at the oddest moments whenever he was around her and the way his body hardened at the mere sight—or thought—of her.

“So why tell me this?” he finally muttered to Daniel, still distracted by the sight and thought of Sam. 

“Oh, I don’t know,” Daniel drawled. “I guess I thought you might want to do something.”

That got his attention and his eyes flew to Daniel. The other man lounged casually at the low table, his face all innocent as he took a healthy swallow of the red wine served with the evening meal. “Like what?” he asked in a low voice designed to send lesser men running for cover.

Daniel grinned. “Oh, come on Jack. You’ve got it bad for her, anyone can see that. Except maybe you—and her.”

“Well, what if I do?”

“She feels the same way.”

His heart started beating faster and his eyes flew down to where Sam sat, only now she wasn’t sitting there, she had just stood up and was helping the other women clear away the dishes. “And she told you this?”

“She didn’t have to tell me, I can see it in the way she looks at you.” Daniel shrugged. “Besides, it seems to be a given that in every universe I’ve ever been in, you two are together.”

Jack didn’t say anything, merely continued to watch her make her way around the table to where he and Daniel sat. She smiled when she reached them, the heavy skirts of her robe brushing against him as she reached past him to pick up his bowl. The heady aroma of sandalwood and woman assaulted Jack’s senses. “Let me help you,” he said, getting to his feet and meeting her surprised eyes, taking the bowl from her hands. He grabbed Daniel’s bowl next, ignoring the self-satisfied smirk on his face, and followed Sam carrying his burden of bowls.

The tent where the meal preparation took place had an air of controlled chaos as women chattered and washed dishes with children playing and generally contributing to the bedlam. “Wait here,” Jack instructed Sam, upon spotting Katep’s wife. Dumping the bowls on a pile of dirty ones, he had a quick word with the dark-eyed woman, who didn’t seem at all surprised by his request to steal Sam away from clean-up duties. 

Jack grabbed Sam’s hand and pulled her along after him, out into the deepening gloom of the night. “Where are we going?” she asked, slightly breathless as she trotted along beside him. 

Squeezing her hand, he didn’t say any thing, just led them further away from the encampment and up the rise that looked out over the valley. The night was clear, the full moon just rising and the first evening stars had just started to twinkle in the darkening sky. Behind them was the encampment, the flickering flames of the many campfires almost like stars in the sand, the occasional laughter and sound of voices a faint reminder that even surrounded by the incredible vastness of the sky and desert, they weren’t truly alone. 

Jack finally released her hand and removed his outer robe, spreading it out on the sand. He sat down and looked up at her, holding out his hand. He could see the question in her eyes as she took his hand, letting him pull her down beside him. She sat gracefully next to him, her robes flowing around them. Jack tugged his kaffiya off and Sam did the same, her burnoose falling down around her shoulders. It was all he could do to not run his fingers through the blonde tendrils and see if they were as soft as they looked.

“Jack, what are we doing here?” Her quiet question broke into his straying thoughts.

Now that he had her alone, he found himself at a loss for words. Hell, even if it was her birthday, what did he have to give her? She looked at him, her eyes deep pools of blue in the light from the moon and there was no mistaking the glow of adoration in them. He’d been careful not to push her after their explosive kisses in the gate ship, when death had seemed imminent, writing the moment off to an excess of adrenaline. But now he wasn’t so sure and maybe Daniel was right. He wasn’t normally a romantic man, but she made him wish he was; a romantic man would have known just what to say, he figured. 

“Jack?” Her soft, capable hand rested on his arm and just the slight touch ran through him like an electric shock. 

“Happy Birthday,” he blurted out.

She eyes grew wide and then she blinked, looking down at her hands for a long moment. Then she looked at him from under her lashes. “How did you know?”

“Daniel told me.”

“Ah,” she nodded, as if it made perfect sense. And maybe it did, he really didn’t know anymore.

“I don’t have anything to give you.”

She looked at him then, a slight smile playing about her lips. “I know.”

And suddenly it didn’t matter that he wasn’t a romantic man, because somehow he found the words. “If we were back on Earth, I’d take you to dinner and movie.” She smiled shyly and ducked her head down and he knew she was blushing. Placing a gentle finger beneath chin, he tilted her head back up. “But we’re not,” he murmured, “and all I have to give you are the moon, the stars and whatever kind of life we can make here—together.” He let his hand fall away and waited, his stomach churning.

If she was shocked by what essentially amounted to a proposal from a man she’d known for only a few weeks, she didn’t show it. Instead, a look of pure delight filled her face and she caressed his cheek with a hand that trembled. “I think that has to be the best present anyone has ever given me.” The relief that flowed through him was almost overwhelming, but then her voice wavered and she whispered, “Are you sure?”

Catching her hand with his, he kissed her palm before tugging her closer. She melted sweetly against him and he tilted her head back against his shoulder, gazing down into her slightly dazed blue eyes. “I’ve never been surer of anything in my life. Besides, I have it on good authority that we’re meant to be together.”

Her slow smile curled like fire in his gut. “Well by all means then, if it’s meant.”

Lowering his head, Jack kissed her. It was tender and caring, nothing like the hungry kisses they’d shared previously, yet he was more aroused now than he had been then, just by the simple passion of the kiss. He felt clumsy, like a teenager undressing a woman for the first time, fumbling with the still unfamiliar fastenings of their desert clothes. She laughed softly, helping him, and he lowered her down onto the soft pile of clothing.

His heart was pounding so hard; he wanted everything to be perfect. He didn’t want to scare her, or hurt her or do anything that she might not like. Now, he was the one who asked, “Sam, are you sure?”

Pale, slender arms looped around his neck and he felt the tentative press of one of her legs around him as she shifted closer. The moonlight illuminated her face, her gorgeous eyes shining with eager passion. “Yes,” she murmured, lifting her head until her lips just brushed his. “It’s my birthday.”

Somewhere deep inside him, Jack found the infinite patience and care he wanted for this moment, with this woman…with Sam. The moon smiled down on them and the stars laughed with joy as he drew her with him into a world where only the two of them and their love existed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daniel lowered the night-vision binoculars and tucked them into the lining of his robe, he certainly wasn’t a voyeur and he had seen all he’d needed to see. He was satisfied that his two friends had gotten the message when the two figures on the hill had gradually merged into one and slowly sank down onto the ground. Sitting down on the sand at the base of the dune, Daniel sat with his back to the lovers. Not that he expected there to be too much foot traffic out this way, but better safe than sorry. After everything that had happened, he wouldn’t want anyone to accidentally stumble across them.

The cool night breeze blew along the desert, the night desert sounds merging with the slowly quieting sounds of the encampment, as its inhabitants settled down for the evening. He wondered idly what it would be like this time around, better he hoped, since Ra was gone. Daniel glanced up at the night sky; stars and planets where he had once traveled twinkled brightly and the man-in-the-moon grinned down on him as if all was right with the world. _And maybe it was,_ Daniel mused, _maybe it finally was._

THE END


End file.
